HARDY JAMES, JR., APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Hardy James Jr. appealed the dismissal of his Rule 3.800(a) motion challenging the legality of his sentences for carjacking, robbery, attempted robbery, and fleeing to elude. The appellate court affirmed the dismissal, finding that any discrepancy between oral and written sentences had been corrected in the written judgment and that concurrent PRR and HFO sentences for separate offenses are legally permissible.
The trial court's order dismissing James's Rule 3.800(a) motion was proper. The written sentences did not contain the illegal dual PRR/HFO designations that James claimed were orally pronounced, and collateral estoppel bars relitigation of claims already determined against him. Additionally, concurrent PRR and HFO sentences for separate offenses are legally permissible.
[1] A written sentence that corrects an oral pronouncement of an illegal sentence renders the issue moot for purposes of a motion to correct an illegal sentence.
[2] A defendant is collaterally estopped from relitigating an illegal sentence claim previously determined against him, absent manifest injustice.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“A defendant who has already had a rule 3.800(a) illegal sentence claim determined against him is collaterally estopped from relitigating the same claim except where the application of collateral estoppel would result in a manifest injustice.”
Establishes the collateral estoppel bar to James's relitigation of the same sentencing challenge
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAt a 2001 sentencing hearing, the trial court orally imposed concurrent sentences on James with both prison releasee reoffender (PRR) and habitual fel…
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Hardy James Jr. appeals from the summary dismissal of his motion filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(a). In grounds 1 through 3 of his motion, James asserted that a discrepancy between the oral pronouncement and written sentences on counts 1 through 3 for carjacking, robbery by sudden snatching, and attempted robbery rendered his sentences illegal. In ground 4 of his motion, James raised an issue concerning the legality of his sentence on count 4, fleeing to elude with wanton disregard. We emphasize that there is no error in the postcon-viction court’s order and write only to explain why the written sentences imposed in counts 1 through 4 are not illegal. We affirm the postconviction court’s order on grounds 5 and 6 without discussion.
At the sentencing hearing in 2001, the trial court, reluctantly finding that James qualified for both prison releasee reoffen-der (PRR) and habitual felony offender (HFO) sentencing for his convictions on counts 1 through 3, orally imposed concurrent sentences with both designations. The written sentences as rendered, however, reflected a PRR designation only on *754the thirty-year sentence for count 1, carjacking. The sentences in counts 2 and 3 — five years each for robbery by sudden snatching and attempted robbery — reflected no PRR or HPO designations. Thus, when James raised an issue of the impropriety of the imposition of equal concurrent PRR and HFO sentences in his direct appeal, this court affirmed on the ground that “the record indicates that James received a thirty-year minimum mandatory sentence as a prison releasee reoffender, but he was not also sentenced as a habitual offender” on count 1. James v. State, 829 So.2d 271, 271 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002).
James then raised this issue of discrepancy between the oral pronouncement and the written sentence in a prior 3.800(a) motion. The postconviction court found in its September 2007 order that there was no habitual offender status to be vacated on counts 1 through 3, citing our opinion in James. Furthermore, the postconviction court declared James’s motion moot as to the oral-written discrepancy because the judgment and sentence did not actually reflect coincident PRR and HFO designations on counts 1 through 3. James appealed, and this court affirmed. James v. State, 980 So.2d 1075 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008) (table decision).
Thus, the postconviction court’s summary dismissal of claims 1 through 3 in the current motion was entirely proper. “A defendant who has already had a rule 3.800(a) illegal sentence claim determined against him is collaterally estopped from relitigating the same claim except where the application of collateral estoppel would result in a manifest injustice.” Knight v. State, 6 So.3d 733, 734 n. 1 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009). Although the trial court orally pronounced an illegal sentence, the written sentence corrected that illegality, and nothing remains for James to attack in a rule 3.800(a) motion.
James also contends that his sentence on count 4 — a five-year HFO sentence to run concurrent with his sentences in counts 1 through 3 — is illegal because it runs concurrent with the thirty-year PRR sentence on count 1. This court has held that PRR and HFO sentences can legally be imposed — even during the same sentencing hearing — for separate offenses. Tolbert v. State, 827 So.2d 278 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002) (holding although imposition of PRR and HFO designations on the same offense are precluded by the supreme court’s opinion in Grant v. State, 770 So.2d 655 (Fla.2000), the prohibition does not apply to the sentencing for separate offenses during the same proceeding).
Accordingly, we affirm the postconviction court’s order.
VILLANTI and CRENSHAW, JJ, Concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Stark v. State, 27 So. 3d 206 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010)…g to maintain the PRR designation could result in a lesser sentence.” Phillips v. State, 834 So. 2d 272, 275 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002). This court has held that PRR sentences and HFO sentences may be legally imposed for separate offenses. James v. State, 17 So. 3d 753, 754 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009); Tolbert v. State, 827 So. 2d 278 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002). Stark’s two burglary offenses were not part of the same criminal episode and were separate crimes. It is apparent, then, that the court’s first attempt to restructure Star…
Authorities Cited
- Grant v. State, 770 So. 2d 655 (Fla. 2000)
- Knight v. State, 6 So. 3d 733 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009)
- Tolbert v. State, 827 So. 2d 278 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002)
- Hardy James, Jr. v. State, 829 So. 2d 271 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002)